For British pensioners, paying income tax is now the norm rather than the exception, according to former pensions minister Sir Steve Webb.

Sir Steve, a partner at consultants LCP, made the comments after analysing new HMRC data about tax-paying pensioners.

HMRC has revealed that the number of people over pension age paying income tax rose to 8.51m in 2024/25 - is an increase of 660,000 from the 7.85m in 2023/24.

Since 2020/21, when the State Pension age rose to 66, 2m more pensioners have begun paying income tax.

This means there are just under 9m taxpayers aged 65 or over in the UK, compared with 4.9m in 2010/11.

Sir Steve said LCP research found that a group of just under 2.5m pensioners receive State Pensions which – in isolation – exceeds their personal tax allowance.

Many of these are older pensioners on the previous State Pension system who combine a basic pension with an earnings-related pension under the old SERPS state pension top up scheme.

Sir Steve, who was Pensions Minister from 2010 to 2015, said more pensioners paying income tax had been caused by a combination of frozen tax thresholds and increases in the State Pension.

He said: “This is a continuation of a long-term trend that has seen the number of over-65s paying tax up by around 4m since 2010/11. For a pensioner in Britain, being an income taxpayer is now the norm rather than the exception.”

State support for retirees has become an increasingly scrutinised topic in recent weeks, with the General Election bringing household finances into sharp focus.

Earlier this month, a report from the International Longevity Centre and asset manager M&G, found that over half of savers  - 55% - fear government support for retirement will decrease by the time they retire. This has led to pension reform becoming an increasingly important topic for voters.

In May, a survey by TPT Retirement Solutions found three out of four workers would most likely vote for the party that reforms DC pensions. Nearly all respondents – 96% - said they would support reforms that increased retirement savings, such as expanding auto-enrolment and increasing minimum contributions.

David Brooks, head of policy at independent consultancy Broadstone, echoed Sir Steve's comments but added that pensioners had to get used to paying tax.

He said: “We would expect a growing number of pensioners to be liable for income tax as the country’s demographic changes due to our ageing population and pace of increases to the state pension. But it is a reminder that with the income tax thresholds frozen at £12,500 until 2028 since 2021, an ever-growing proportion of pensioners will be captured by the tax given the increases to the state pension.

“For most people the State Pension will be below the personal allowance, and it is only extra private savings that exceed this limit. It is wholly appropriate that pensioners on higher incomes are subject to higher levels are tax – it is confusing why pensioners paying tax is necessarily seen as a bad thing.”